19 shows to watch this fall

The most promising series, new and returning

Television's more than ever a year-round business, but fall is still a time to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of shows competing for our attention.

Will this season bring another hit like "This Is Us" or "Empire" to challenge the notion that broadcast TV is dead? Will HBO be able to hold on to the viewers who signed on only for "Game of Thrones" with a series like its engrossing but decidedly dragon-free "The Deuce"? And will fans of CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" fall for "Young Sheldon"?

Here, based on dozens of hours of screening -- or in a few cases, cockeyed optimism -- are some of the most promising series, new and returning:

"Outlander" (8 p.m. Sunday, Starz). The eagerly awaited third season of the time-travel series may be my favorite yet. Though it begins with lovers Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) far apart in both space and time, believing they've lost each other forever, it brings them to a period in their lives -- middle age -- that TV doesn't usually invest with as much romance as this series does.

"The Orville" (9 p.m. Sunday, Fox, moving to 9 p.m. Thursdays on Sept. 28). "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane has made a lot of money for Fox, and no expense seems to have been spared in designing and outfitting the starship of his dreams for this sci-fi series in which he's both executive producer and star. An homage to the original "Star Trek," but with better production values, it moves, not always seamlessly, between broad comedy and thought-provoking drama.

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"The Deuce" (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO). From George Pelecanos and David Simon ("The Wire," "Treme") comes a flashback to the '70s and the gritty beginnings of the modern porn industry in New York. James Franco plays twins -- based on real-life brothers who worked as fronts for the Gambino crime family -- and Maggie Gyllenhaal an entrepreneurial hooker who's quick to recognize an opportunity to move beyond the streets.

"Top of the Lake: China Girl" (9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, SundanceTV). Elisabeth Moss ("The Handmaid's Tale," "Mad Men") returns as Aussie detective Robin Griffin, who's back in Sydney trying to rebuild her life, and her career, after the events of the first, New Zealand-based season of the Jane Campion drama. "Game of Thrones" fans won't want to miss Gwendoline Christie -- Brienne of Tarth! -- as an officer who looks up (figuratively, anyway) to Robin as the two investigate the murder of a young woman. Nicole Kidman appears as a woman tied to Robin's past.

"The Vietnam War" (8 p.m. Sept. 17-21, 24-28, PBS). Directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick -- the team behind "Baseball" and "The War" -- undertake an 18-hour examination of the divisive conflict in Southeast Asia through the stories of those who were there -- including the Vietnamese from both the North and South -- in a series that's full of the surprises only time and perspective can yield. If the wall-to-wall rollout intimidates -- it's a lot to take in at once -- you can see it in weekly installments at 9 p.m. Tuesdays starting Oct. 3.

"Young Sheldon" (8:30 p.m. Sept. 25 for premiere, launching in regular time slot at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2). Jim Parsons narrates and is a producer on this charming, though not necessarily laugh-a-minute, prequel to "The Big Bang Theory," which brings a "Wonder Years" vibe to the east-Texas childhood of Parsons' Sheldon Cooper, played by Iain Armitage (Big Little Lies). Laurie Metcalf's actress daughter Zoe Perry, who plays Sheldon's mother, is eerily good as a younger version of her mother's Big Bang character, doing her best to help her genius 9-year-old fit in -- or at least remain safe -- as he enters ninth grade with his older brother.

"Me, Myself & I" (9:30 p.m. Sept. 25, CBS). If you can get past the peculiarity of casting John Larroquette as an older version of a character played by "Saturday Night Live's" considerably shorter Bobby Moynihan -- a difference the show will be working to minimize -- this comedy about an inventor at three pivotal stages of his life is worth a look. Think "This Is Us," but with maybe less crying.

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"The Good Doctor" (10 p.m. Sept. 25, ABC). New medical drama from "House" creator David Shore stars Freddie Highmore ("Bates Motel") as a surgical resident with autism and savant syndrome; Richard Schiff ("The West Wing") as the mentor trying to make his colleagues focus on the young doctor's abilities, not his disabilities; and Hill Harper as a physician who has his doubts.

"The Brave" (10 p.m. Sept. 25, NBC). Mike Vogel ("Under the Dome") stars as the leader of a special-ops squad in the first of the fall's new military dramas to premiere. Anne Heche ("Men in Trees") plays the deputy director of the agency overseeing the squad's international activities. One way to tell this one apart from the other dramas about elite military teams: It appears to be less interested in the squad members' home lives.

"Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders" (10 p.m. Sept. 26, NBC). In a departure for the "L&O" franchise, which usually rewrites and changes the names in the headlines it's ripping from, Edie Falco ("Nurse Jackie," "The Sopranos") stars as defense attorney Leslie Abramson in an eight-part treatment of the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, convicted in the 1989 murders of their parents at their Beverly Hills mansion.

"SEAL Team" (9 p.m. Sept. 27, CBS). David Boreanaz, the "Bones" and "Angel" vet stars as a leader of Tier One Navy SEALs -- the elite of the elite -- in a drama that encompasses both the team's missions and its members' complicated home lives.

"Will & Grace" (9 p.m. Sept. 28, NBC). Forget the fast-forward from the 2006 finale, which co-creator David Kohan has now declared "more or less a fantasy": Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes), and Karen (Megan Mullally) are back together, and not just for this season's 16 episodes. NBC, confident we won't want to let them go again, has ordered a second (or, if you prefer, 10th) season of the once-groundbreaking comedy.

"Ghosted" (8:30 p.m. Oct. 1, Fox). Comedy stars Craig Robinson ("The Office") and Adam Scott ("Parks and Recreation") as odd-couple investigators of the paranormal whose work could determine "the fate of the entire planet." More fun than that sounds.

"Kevin (Probably) Saves the World" (10 p.m. Oct. 3, ABC). Jason Ritter ("Parenthood") stars as Kevin, a man who's lived a selfish life that's about to be transformed by the arrival of a messenger from God named Yvette (Kimberly Hbert Gregory). JoAnna Garcia Swisher plays Kevin's twin sister, Amy, a widowed college professor who takes him in after he tries suicide, and Chloe East is her daughter, Reese, who doesn't exactly greet her long-absent uncle with open arms. It's a terrible title, but when the clever creators of "Reaper" -- whose major characters included the Devil -- turn toward the light, it's worth a look.

"Stranger Things" (Oct. 27, Netflix). Just in time for Halloween, the boys, their friend Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and Winona Ryder are all back for nine episodes of supernatural '80s scariness.

"The Crown" (Dec. 8, Netflix). One of 2016's best dramas returns, with the second season promising to explore problems in the early years of the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) and Prince Philip (Matt Smith).